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BILLINGS, Montana (LifeSiteNews) — The Montana Republican Party approved a sweeping pro-life platform that opposes nearly all abortions, rejecting oft-cited exceptions for rape or incest, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Members of Montana’s Republican Party on Saturday voted to approve the new platform after adding language stating their support for a “complete ban on elective abortion,” The Billings Gazette noted.

According to the Gazette, the party’s previous platform had taken a more moderate stance, affirming support for legislation requiring that abortion-seeking minors first notify parents, and stating its interest in the “preservation of innocent human life at every stage of life” from “conception through natural death.”

Prior to the Montana Republicans’ adoption of the staunchly pro-life platform, a moderate representative had reportedly proposed an amendment to loosen the party’s objection to abortion by including a carveout in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother, according to Montana Public Radio.

Montana Republicans rejected the proposal, with Republican State Rep. Jedediah Hinkle explaining that he doesn’t “believe that the baby should be responsible for the sins of another person.”

Montana Republicans will have a tough road ahead to implement pro-life laws in their state.

Abortion is still legal before fetal “viability” in Montana, thanks to a 1999 Montana Supreme Court decision declaring that abortion protections fall under the state Constitution’s privacy provisions, according to the Montana Free Press.

RELATED: Here’s where abortion is banned or protected in post-Roe America, with new interactive map

Republicans in the state legislature are actively challenging the 1999 decision, hoping to enact greater protections for the unborn in the Treasure State.

In a joint statement after the rollback of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, Montana Senate President Mark Blasdel and House Majority Leader Sue Vinton said “[a]ll eyes in Montana need to be on our own judicial branch of government.”

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